This is great. Great job frustratedarchitect for being so aggresive in your promotion of Baguio.

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I always wonder why people in SSC fight over who has "better possessions" when the real battle is always poverty and social justice. It's sad to see a nation as great as the Philippines being divided into selfish regions for titles that would probably be forgotten in a week's time.

I believe people always fail to ask: what is real development?

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do, and by the grace of God I will do it. - Professor Winnie Monsod

__________________We are not here to compete with any other city nor are we here to follow the path of other cities. CDO is shaping its own destiny. It has carved its own name, and it's traversing its own path. It's OUR OWN... the Kagay-anon way.

I'm interested about this. They will make their own aircraft? Who owns this?

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I always wonder why people in SSC fight over who has "better possessions" when the real battle is always poverty and social justice. It's sad to see a nation as great as the Philippines being divided into selfish regions for titles that would probably be forgotten in a week's time.

I believe people always fail to ask: what is real development?

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do, and by the grace of God I will do it. - Professor Winnie Monsod

__________________A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. So also with a lamp.
People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. But they put it on the place for a lamp. Then all the people in the house can see its light.

Moog, is a worldwide designer and manufacturer of motion and fluid controls and control systems for applications in aerospace, defense, industrial and medical device markets. Their products and systems include military and commercial aircraft flight controls, satellite positioning controls, controls for steering tactical and strategic missiles, thrust vector controls for space launch vehicles and controls for positioning gun barrels and automatic ammunition loading for military combat vehicles. They are also used in industrial applications, including injection molding machines for the plastics markets, metal forming, power generating turbines, simulators used to train pilots and certain medical applications. They operate under five segments; Aircraft Controls, Space and Defense Controls, Industrial Controls, Components and Medical Devices. Principal manufacturing facilities are located in the United States, including facilities in New York, California, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and in Germany, Italy, England, Japan, the Philippines, Ireland and India.

The company was founded in 1951 by Bill Moog, Art Moog, and Lou Geyer. The company is headquartered in East Aurora, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, New York and has sales, engineering, and manufacturing facilities in twenty-six countries around the world.

MOOG has a plant in Baguio for many years now. Its composed of many large one storey buildings. Its near the aging Loakan airport thats why when coming off the plane you could readily see the plant. When I was still new in Baguio I thought they were duty free shops. Another MNC in Baguio is Texas instruments. Their plant looks impressive. Although you need a pass to get inside their facility. Its composed of many mid rise glass structures 5 to 9 storeys high. They are currently planning an expansion in Clark for the plain reason that there is no more space for expansion in the Baguio site.

The Baguio City Economic Zone expects some P6.7 billion worth of committed investments to roll out in 2007.

In a report to Philippine Economic Zone Authority director-general Lilia de Lima, Baguio zone administrator Tereso Panga said existing locators and new companies committed the new investments, signifying continued investor interest in the Philippines.

Expansion investments by existing locator companies totaled P2.031 billion. These include the fifth expansion phase of Texas Instruments involving an additional $25 million in investments and 20,000 square meters of additional space.

Another US-based firm, aviation services provider MOOG, is investing $10.5 million for two buildings comprising the third phase of its expansion. American call center Clientlogic is putting in $5.5 million for the second phase of its expansion, which will add 1,000 seats.

Retail magnate Henry Sy has earmarked some P300 million for its four-story SM Baguio Cyberzone Building with a floor area of 12,000 sqm. The proposed new building will be adjacent to the existing SM Baguio mall.

Norwegian Woods is investing P6.5 million for its expansion. Japanese facilities provider Omed has committed approximately P12 million, while local call center NTUI is putting in P4.5 million for additional capacity of 108 seats.

ITI-Consulting of France is also putting up a 30-seat call center with an intention to register it with Peza as an information technology building. No amount of investment was disclosed for this project.

MANILA, Philippines -- Property firm Fil-Estate Corp. announced plans Tuesday for a P5-billion expansion of the Camp John Hay tourism and leisure complex in the northern resort city of Baguio, involving five new projects in about 20 hectares of the 247-hectare former US military R&R facility.

Fil-Estate chairman Robert John Sobrepeña also said the company was taking a more aggressive stance in property development in view of a boom in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector and demand for retirement and leisure homes.

“We believe this move will take advantage of economic conditions and improve shareholder value,” he said at the Fil-Estate annual stockholder’s meeting.

At Camp John Hay, the Fil-Estate group is building a second condominium-hotel with 366 units, Sobrepeña said.

It will also build forest cabins that will cost P8-P10 million each, and develop a “town center” that will have a commercial center, an information technology (IT) campus that will have capacity for 20,000-30,000 students, and business park residences to cater to BPO workers, he added.

A leisure homes project will include five condominium buildings that will cater to foreign and local retirees, also at Camp John Hay, the chairman said.

Also planned is a third hotel, beside the Camp John Hay Convention Center, he said. It could be converted into a casino-hotel in case Fil-Estate decides to get a gaming license, he added.

Camp John Hay is projected to provide net cash flow of P28.3 billion over the next 39 years from the proposed projects, he said.

Sobrepeña also said he was hopeful these plans would be supported by a bill passed by Congress that restores tax benefits for special economic zones such as Camp John Hay.

He said revival of the tax privileges would help Fil-Estate's Camp John Hay Development Corp. to finalize a restructuring agreement with the government's Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) to settle more than P2.1 billion in arrears.

Camp John Hay Development suspended all of its payments in 2005 when the Supreme Court affirmed a 2003 decision nullifying the tax benefits of locators in BCDA-administered special economic zones except the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Sobrepeña said the proposal was to restructure P1.8 billion of the debt to make it payable over 15 years, with the balance to be paid upon signing of the agreement.

On Monday, Fil-Estate Corp. announced that it would buy 30 percent of Camp John Hay from Fil-Estate Management Inc., which holds 45 percent of the leisure estate, in exchange for P450 million worth of new Fil-Estate Corp. shares, which will increase Fil-Estate Management's stake in Fil-Estate Corp. to 83 percent from 76 percent.

The purchase agreement will take effect upon securing the necessary government approvals, Fil-Estate Corp. said.

Meantime, Sobrepeña said a Fil-Estate subsidiary, Monumento Rail Transit Corp., had proposed to the Department of Transportation and Communication an expansion of the overhead Metro Rail Transit (MRT) to accommodate 650,000 passengers daily from the present 480,000.

He said the MRT exceeded its capacity of 350,000 passengers a day, which he noted was bound to cause system breakdowns and jack up maintenance costs.

He said there was a need to buy 30 carriages, which would cost about $65 million. With INQUIRER.net